Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Joni in the 70s (2) - The Hissing of Summer Lawns

Context is everything and Joni’s achievement in crafting such a magnificent
record as ‘The Hissing of Summer Lawns’ was tainted by the negative reaction of
the critics at the time, a reaction which now looks foolish.

The author Leonore Fleischer concluded her 1976 biography ‘Joni Mitchell –
Her life, her loves, her music’, at the moment when Joni had just released ‘The
Hissing of Summer Lawns’. It is interesting to note how the tone of the book
changed at this point, as if the biographer was perplexed by the shift in her
musical style.

Fleischer notes that with her previous album Court and Spark,
“Joni had come a long way from the Newport Folk Festival days, and she had
brought her audience with her every step of the way.”

Fleischer did a good job of dissecting the
song lyrics, but her asides displayed her doubts as to the quality of
the
music. For example, she comments that Joni must have expected the puzzled
reaction of fans, “for her dedication of this album is so long and so
rambling as to
be almost an apologia.” You can feel the sense of betrayal.

Fleischer notes that with her previous album Court and Spark,
“Joni had come a long way from the Newport Folk Festival days, and she had
brought her audience with her every step of the way.”

Sadly, many of those loyal followers were to desert her after hearing The Hissing of
Summer Lawns – an album of beautifully crafted songs played by gifted
musicians – but not what her audience was expecting. Although the album went
gold upon release, it was the last major selling album of Joni's career. As she
steered her art away from folk in the direction of jazz and world music, she
drove away those who loved her for the simple, unadorned confessionals of the Blue album, and the breezy pop of Court and Spark.

Joni herself described the reaction to ‘Hissing’ as the worst critical
mauling she ever received. By no means all listeners were dismissive, but many
critics and fans rejected her at this point, refusing to accept she wanted to
explore new forms of musical expression.

Even now, after all these years of listening to it, I am still astonished by
the sound of the record. On vinyl, you have not just the presence that all well
mastered and pressed albums have; most notably, you have a mix that weaves the
voices and guitars in a way that is truly exceptional. Certainly, this is not
the work of some dilettante jazz wannabe, as was the common accusation at the
time. This is sophisticated music, and played with such empathy by the
band.

The quality of the music on display is unmistakeable from the opening guitar
strains of ‘In France They Kiss on Main Street’. Joni employed the band that
had accompanied her around Europe in 1975, Tom Scott and the LA Express,
augmented on various tracks by two other lead guitar players, Larry Carlton and
Skunk Baxter, in addition to Robben Ford who provides the searing solo on In
France… and the dobro on ‘Don’t Interrupt The Sorrow’. On backing vocals, she
roped in messrs Crosby, Nash and Taylor.

It’s
instantly different from what we’ve been accustomed to with Joni. Jazzy
chords and a greater emphasis on rhythm and interplay. And if that
wasn’t
enough to contend with, she threw a spanner in the works with the second
track.
What’s this? Burundi drums and moog synthesiser? Lyrics that evoke jazz
clubs
and edgy urban scenes? This was another world entirely. Seen in the
context of
what was to come in terms of world music, it may not sound that radical.
But ‘The
Jungle Line’ appeared way before anyone had coined that term; way before
Graceland and certainly pre-dating Adam Ant! It was a firm statement of
intent
and one Joni consolidated on 'Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter', the natural
follow-up to Hissing, though obviously preceded by Hejira.

A more natural follow-on track to the opener would have been 'Edith & The
Kingpin', a beautifully realised production, weaving vocals into the
smooth backing track in a way that still mesmerises me 40 years later (I’m
listening to my vintage vinyl copy as I write this).

The pace picks up again with Joni’s distinctive guitar leading off 'Don’t
Interrupt The Sorrow'. Again, the lyrics are a departure from the
observational/confessional type her listeners loved her for, and whatever they
mean, they are irresistibly cool and evocative.

Shades of Scarlett Conquering is a little closer to the sound and the feel
of Court and Spark, with piano and strings as the main accompaniment, but it’s
a fitting close to the first side of the vinyl record.

'In France They Kiss On Main Street'

from "The Hissing of Summer Lawns" by Joni Mitchell, 1975

The title track begins a sequence of songs on side two that deal with the complexities
of supposed domestic bliss. The woman in the song has been given good reason to
quit, but “she stays with a love of some kind, it’s the lady’s choice”.

The mood of sultry nights, of rich and exotic lifestyles less-than-perfect
continues through the Boho Dance and Harry’s House, which drifts languorously into
the Mandel and Hendricks tune ‘Centrepiece’ with a wonderful piano cameo by Joe
Sample. Jazz, baby!

As Harry’s House fades out, the plaintive guitar intro of Sweet Bird drifts
in slowly and Joni is once again alone, facing the compromises and the
disappointments of the modern world:

Golden In Time / Cities under the sand / Power, ideals and beauty / Fading,
in everyone’s hands…

Which brings us to the final song, Shadows and Light. Joni and her voice. An
invocation, a prayer, you can almost imagine you are in church. It’s a fitting end to a
spiritually uplifting and absorbing album. One the most brilliant records I’ve
ever heard.

But at the time, some people just couldn’t see it. The final paragraph of
Leonore Fleischer’s book reads thus: “It would be astonishing indeed if The Hissing Of Summer
Lawns reached the same pinnacle of success that For The Roses and
Court and Spark
did. It is so much less accessible. The songs are not singable by anyone but
Joni; less melodic, less personally engaging. The album marks the emergence of
a total new style for Joni, no longer on her Magic Princess trip. Still
poetical, it has taken Joni away from her customary and very popular subject
matter – the fragile nature of the heart and the complex byways it takes in its
search for another heart – and into avenues of expression that many of her
listeners may be too perplexed to follow.”

And so it proved. The British music press was appreciative of the album, hailing it as a new high water mark for the decade. But American reviewers were unimpressed, and history shows their narrow-minded criticism to be quite ridiculous,
now that 'Hissing' can be seen clearly as one of many creative peaks Joni
reached in the 1970s.

For
Joni, it was obviously a labour of love and a liberating experience to have her
new compositions interpreted by musicians she trusted, having been on the road
with them during the summer of 1974. And as history shows, over the next four years
she fully justified her ambition, holding her own among some of the best
musicians in the world.

There will be some who will say that from this period, they prefer Hejira. Fair enough, but
that follow-up album to Hissing was fairly sparse musically and is chiefly admirable
for its lyrical quality. I would contend that Hissing is far richer in its
musicality, in the variety of the songs and the moods they evoke. As Joni
herself said on the cover, “This is a total work”.